A few weeks ago my eczema got much worse (it's still not very good now) and my hands were full of those hideous blisters, which were extremely itchy and could be broken very easily... In fact most of them were broken and my hands were just a mess. And then I went to a doctor who was totally of no help to me, he advised me to stop applying any steroidal cream / ointments (which I used for a decade) and rashes slowly appeared all over my upper body. I couldn't sleep well, there were some yellow liquid oozing from the blisters and I always ended up scratching myself so bad I would leave blood on my bed. I had to clean my bed coz there were skins everywhere (which I scratched off). I couldn't take shower for more than 10 minutes. I got so ugly one night I cried for hours when I looked into mirror... I looked at others and I was so so jealous.. Why their skins are smooth while there are scars all over my body? Will I ever get someone I love? I am gay which means it's harder to get a lover and now with all the scars.. I was scared.

I still have tons of scars and my hands are not fully healed. My skins still look pretty bad. But what I did and do to get me through is.. I count my blessings... everytime I feel sorry for myself. There must be someone who has worse luck and they are still strong. Why can't I? I look ugly but at least I have my family there to fully support me. I am jobless now coz of my skin conditions and have nothing to do so I bought lots of Friends DVDs to entertain myself. I write down how I feel. I often don't believe happiness is a choice. You feel happy. It's like love, love is a feeling, so is happiness. You don't choose to love someone and how can you choose a feeling? But there are ways to cheer yourself up. I do believe watching lots of funny stuff will help. And always remember the support you get.

You should not believe every nonsense that these guys tell you. May be you also got them wrong.

Sleep without sleeping pill is no escape.
It`s a natural part of your living rhythm, and it`s absolutely needed for recovering. In any kind of illness even more.

Btw. depressive people usually tend to have serious problems to fall asleep, have nightmares, and simply can`t sleep.

For people with clinical depression is the complete opposite actually.

I don't have depression but I do have a similar condition & I have been in treatment for 6 years. My best advice here is that you talk about your feelings with someone, say friends, family or a therapist, sometimes when you feel bad but you know you can count with someone for support you feel much better, the worse thing you can do is to keep it to yourself.

ok i try it a last time, maybe I asked too much to my english skills, what i meant it was that you need to force yourself to smile as smiling alterates those natural reactions to happiness and your brain feels those as if you are really enjoying the moment.
with a fake smile i meant to say that it's not a natural one as since you are depressed smiling is the last thing you want to do, that's why I called it fake.so trying to smile at things would be fake as you wouldn't feel like, but it then will help. that wouldn't change the fact that you need to TALK to friends about your issues and you need to do everything else it needs.

and i know that depression doesn't last a day or two...

I don't see how smiling at something even though you know it's "fake" would help you cope better with depression. If anything, I'd argue it would make you feel worse.

That's the worst advice you could give to a person suffering of depression.

I'd kill to get a good night sleep during the episodes.

My last episode came to an 'end' about two months ago. The doc diagnosed me with moderately severe depression after my two year dysthymia (or as I used to call it, "chronic sadness"). Then I was put on a round of medication which made no difference for the first half of it. It felt like I was hitting rock bottom too fast to even take action. My coping was pushed to the limit and I ended up resorting to self-destructive behaviour as my last coping mechanism. While it did help, the guilt would then eat me inside out and I'd feel much worse. The cycle was pretty much in constant loop. I was suicidal and during one of my visits to A&E, was asked to be sectioned but I refused. I'd say the one thing that kept me from doing anything idiotic was my previous psychologist. The sessions were the only reason I'd even bother getting out of bed--the only thing I looked forward to in those shitty weeks. Medications helped too but that was much later.

I have come to accept it's highly likely I'll have another major episode (though I dread the thought of it). While I am better now, I don't think I have the 'tools' to deal with it if I relapse yet. I have recently started Cognitive Behavioural Therapy () to help me better cope with it.

My last episode came to an 'end' about two months ago. The doc diagnosed me with moderately severe depression after my two year dysthymia (or as I used to call it, "chronic sadness"). Then I was put on a round of medication which made no difference for the first half of it. It felt like I was hitting rock bottom too fast to even take action. My coping was pushed to the limit and I ended up resorting to self-destructive behaviour as my last coping mechanism. While it did help, the guilt would then eat me inside out and I'd feel much worse. The cycle was pretty much in constant loop. I was suicidal and during one of my visits to A&E, was asked to be sectioned but I refused. I'd say the one thing that kept me from doing anything idiotic was my previous psychologist. The sessions were the only reason I'd even bother getting out of bed--the only thing I looked forward to in those shitty weeks. Medications helped too but that was much later.

I have come to accept it's highly likely I'll have another major episode (though I dread the thought of it). While I am better now, I don't think I have the 'tools' to deal with it if I relapse yet. I have recently started Cognitive Behavioural Therapy () to help me better cope with it.

Sport, going to the beach, anything that makes you feel lively. This time last year I had a huge depression which cause I didn't know (and I still dont), the moment I started swimming in the sea, it was gone

You should not believe every nonsense that these guys tell you. May be you also got them wrong.

Sleep without sleeping pill is no escape.
It`s a natural part of your living rhythm, and it`s absolutely needed for recovering. In any kind of illness even more.

Btw. depressive people usually tend to have serious problems to fall asleep, have nightmares, and simply can`t sleep.

Sorry but I know very well what depression is. I was depressed for a whole year, maybe even more, and my mom suffers from bipolarity and depression.

I was not talking about sleeping at night, I was talking about sleeping as a hobby. It's the worst thing. I don't understand why depressed people should spend their days in bed, sleeping. It's very bad as they are more comfortable there, actually running away from their problems and life.

Lack of sleep or oversleeping = a sign of depression.
Sleeping because it kills time = bad stuff. It doesn't help anything. I think you will agree on that

My last episode came to an 'end' about two months ago. The doc diagnosed me with moderately severe depression after my two year dysthymia (or as I used to call it, "chronic sadness"). Then I was put on a round of medication which made no difference for the first half of it. It felt like I was hitting rock bottom too fast to even take action. My coping was pushed to the limit and I ended up resorting to self-destructive behaviour as my last coping mechanism. While it did help, the guilt would then eat me inside out and I'd feel much worse. The cycle was pretty much in constant loop. I was suicidal and during one of my visits to A&E, was asked to be sectioned but I refused. I'd say the one thing that kept me from doing anything idiotic was my previous psychologist. The sessions were the only reason I'd even bother getting out of bed--the only thing I looked forward to in those shitty weeks. Medications helped too but that was much later.

I have come to accept it's highly likely I'll have another major episode (though I dread the thought of it). While I am better now, I don't think I have the 'tools' to deal with it if I relapse yet. I have recently started Cognitive Behavioural Therapy () to help me better cope with it.

For me, it was a combination of psychotherapy and medication.

I agree with Matias, it sounds like bipolarity, because my mom actually went through a similar thing. I knew she was bipolar when I was 12 after watching an ep of ER about it (as silly as it seems), I begged her to talk about it to the doctor who dismissed it, and another psychiatrist did too... 4 years later, they found her bipolarity. Oh god, it makes me emotional to think about that, it was hard to accept for me, I so wanted to be wrong...

whatever, my mom is now doing much much better now that they've found her disease thus the right medication.

For people with clinical depression is the complete opposite actually.

I don't have depression but I do have a similar condition & I have been in treatment for 6 years. My best advice here is that you talk about your feelings with someone, say friends, family or a therapist, sometimes when you feel bad but you know you can count with someone for support you feel much better, the worse thing you can do is to keep it to yourself.

I have to say that I don`t know exactly what clinical depression means, much less that I`m affected by it.
We all have certain issues but I`d say that I`m not depressive.
I know a few people who are seriously suffering of this disease and are medically treated for many years.

They are actually friends of mine and I was talking a lot with them about it, their feelings, though to suicidal thoughts, etc.
They also had more or less sleep disturbances, which is reasonable when you look at one of the main symptoms - anxiety. I was sitting with them preferably by night.
Tranquillizers and sleeping pills are still a part of their medication - so far my knowledge.

About the reasons of depression and what you can do against there is a lot to say. Just a few words.

It`s pretty obvious that mental diseases are increasing nowadays.
Depression is one of them.
Meaning - and senselessness of your own life, Genetic predisposition, social and educational issues, etc. are mentioned in this concern. There is a lot of information available about it in books and medias.

Interestingly when somebody is depressive all knowledge about his disease might not help him, the same with other mental diseases.
When you look at that you might be astonished about the way we use thinking, about it`s relation towards our feelings and emotions and what picture of the human being we generally have.
However, the essentials and the meaning of psychic diseases in human life seems to be not yet entirely clear.

I completely agree with you that these people absolutely should talk about it even when it seems to be pointless for them.
Depressive people tend to seclude theirselves from the world and that`s actually the worst thing that they can do. It will lead them deeper in their illness.
Dealing open with and talking about it is the first step to get healthy.

Sorry but I know very well what depression is. I was depressed for a whole year, maybe even more, and my mom suffers from bipolarity and depression.

I was not talking about sleeping at night, I was talking about sleeping as a hobby. It's the worst thing. I don't understand why depressed people should spend their days in bed, sleeping. It's very bad as they are more comfortable there, actually running away from their problems and life.

Lack of sleep or oversleeping = a sign of depression.
Sleeping because it kills time = bad stuff. It doesn't help anything. I think you will agree on that

Lack of own experience most probably made me unimaginative in getting you right in your post.

Now I know what you mean and I absolutely agree with you in the main point.
Sleeping as a hobby indeed is

Oh ok I just found it odd that first you said you would have problem to fall sleep during episodes but then contradict yourself and say sometimes you don't find any reason to get out of bed. Silly me.

I would pretty much oscillate between insomnia and hypersomnia. I never took it as a sign of bipolarity though. I don't meet the criteria of a manic episode. My highs are no where near as severe. But then again I'm no psychiatrist. The GP didn't seem to suspect a bipolar disorder.

I know the difference between the two professions. I mean the people in here who are telling other people they are bipolar, etc.. I guess I could have said "armchair psychologist" but some of these people seem to want to prescribe meds.